I agree that there's lots of good caches there. The three that Esko gave you are certainly must-do ones, although they involve some serious hiking as well - something I doubt you're doing if you're passing through on the way to the Boundary Waters.

There is a simple virtual at the Wolf Center. You'll probably be there to deal with permits for the BWCAW anyway..._________________Hmm...

Ah- thanks for the nice words about my caches- nice way to start the day.

Here is one you will want to do:

GCWVY3

Then do the search for caches close by- there are more of mine in the area as well as some by other cachers that are park and grabs or close to it as well as the longer ones._________________LIFE IS GOOD;CABIN LIFE IS GREAT

There's more than a handful of great caches around Ely. Just got a bunch of them last week. I wanted to get eagleyes Bass Lake Vista -- that Esko mentioned -- but having just finished a 30-mile backpacking trip, we opted for caches with shorter walks.

We will enter at #77, Hegman Lake. Right on par for your cool-spounding cache related to the pictographs. I love rock art and really look forward to seeing that. But a question, as we try to finalize our plans (well, dependent on weather)....

EDIT: LOL, I see that's the cache you referred me to. Was wondering... and just checked it now. Cool!

I am guessing I can get the slash mark number off a photo of the pictographs, would that be correct or not? If so, we could likely go off looking for the cache itself immediately upon completing the portage into Hegman with the canoe (to get the step number)

Am guessing it's on the portage in, so we would backtrack a bit (or not??)? How about an idea how much time it might take to find it... and am I on the right track here?

More questions to you backpackers... how is Angleworm Trail? We are considering doing that when leaving Hegman, Trease and Little Bass. Leaving the vehicle, with canoe on it, at the Angleworm entry point (any problem with theft/break-in?). And then maybe do the 12-mile loop around Angleworm as a day hike. Any helpful advice on that?

We considered a long (well 25 mile or so) canoe loop from Hegman to Angleworm to Gun, Gull, Fairy, Fourtown, and so on to take out at Mudro...Well, there is that LONG portage into Angleworm. Also, it's my first time (ohhhh lala! LOL) and I want this to be a mellow trip. No schedules to meet (did that on a 1.5 week trip to Bighorns in WY, Slim Buttes, SD and Teddy Roosevelt Ntl Park in ND earlier this summer. It was go, go, GO! Fun, but tiring and somewhat stressful)

Will be heading into Hegman Thursday (geez, I have a lot to get done yet!)... Taking out and heading back Labor Day - from wherever we're at at that point.

gotta go to Angleworm, the portage is really the shortest 460 rod portage. kind of flat but easy accept for the length. We have done that route 3 times. Angleworm is one of my favorite lakes in the Bdub. There are the remnants of an old logging camp behind the campsite halfway up the lake on the east side. The first site on the east side is a nice large site. Plus the hike up to the old firetower site on the sw side is a graet view! I do remember on of the portage. Have not done the trail.
We usually do the loop you are talking about but backwards.

gotta go to Angleworm, the portage is really the shortest 460 rod portage. kind of flat but easy accept for the length. We have done that route 3 times. Angleworm is one of my favorite lakes in the Bdub. There are the remnants of an old logging camp behind the campsite halfway up the lake on the east side. The first site on the east side is a nice large site. Plus the hike up to the old firetower site on the sw side is a graet view! I do remember on of the portage. Have not done the trail.
We usually do the loop you are talking about but backwards.

Interesting. Hegman was one of a few (if the only) entry point left available when we booked it. would make much more sense to hit that with about NO food!

And GREAT! Finally, a person has verified the existence of the old firetower. When were you last up there? Is the trail easy to find? I read where others were wondering about its existence. EDIT: IS the fire tower still there? Or it's just a site where it was in the past located and now it's gone? If there, can you go up it?

We skied up there about a year and a half ago. The fire tower is long gone but you maybe able to look up the benchmark for it and let your GPS lead the way. The view is great. I think if you take the angleworm trail on the west side it will get you there. If you are planning on staying on Hegman get there early! Those sites fill fast. That lake to the east of N hegman usually has a site, the end of that portage is weird because you paddle throught a dead forest, but it has been many years since I was there.
You have to check out the logging site it is great, there is a old gas pump and fuel tanks on wooden sleigh runners and lots of stuff around.
Have fun

I plan to do a trip report with photos for one or both of the backpacking boards where I hang out. Will do a link here when I do that (I am way busy with also writing and taking pics for my newspaper job and sometimes just get a bit burnt out on it all... plus, I procrastinate! lol)... OR MAYBE I'LL JUST USE THIS!!!

In summary

Five nights out:
Aug. 29 - Beartrap Lake State Park
Aug. 30 and 31 - Easternmost site on Little Bass Lake, BWCAW
Sept. 1 - First site in (east side of point) on South Hegman Lake, BWCAW
Sept. 2 - Banning State Park

Geocaches:
ummm, five??? Maybe more.... I have yet to log any... and need to figure out (since I didn't have cache info with me) if I have right info to log virtual at wolf center and the fault one (would raise total to 7 then, I believe)

Rock art:
One major panel (and a cache to boot! Thanks, eagleyes!). Plus I bought the book on rock art.

Portage heck:
The portage that ends at the ghost forest where you enter Little Bass Lake is a mucky, muddy, shoe-sucking, low-water mess of some distance. On the way back, we hauled the canoe in from the point and bushwhacked it along beside the muck. Umm, let me clarify, my friend carried the canoe. Me< Not a carrier of canoes, lol!

Portage heck, part II:
Coming back, entering North Hegman, the rock is at a slant. Going out I nearly lost it. Coming back I had one leg in canoe, other slipped on the wet, slanted rock and I went in the lake. Now you need to understand I have this deathly fear of water and don't swim. Yes, I was wearing a life jacket, "you betcha" in Northern terminology! My friend "rescued" me, as I was bawling, by telling me to get my one leg out of the canoe (no, never did tip it over)... and to stand up. LOL! Was laughing not much later, but still it shook me a tiny bit. (Those are D--E--E--P lakes for the most part!)

Unusal:
We saw no one else, period, back in on Little Bass Lake. Perhaps the portage is scaring people away??

Hiking:
Thanks for the info on Angleworm, but we didn't get there. Was too nice just relaxing there, by ourselves, on Little Bass. We did go into Trease, which a ranger told us is a "dying lake," but that was as far as we made it north.

Mines:
The Iron Range mines were amazing. I like rocks... and caves. so the Soudan Mine tour was cool.

Another kind of boat:
We took the riverboat tour at Interstate State Park on the St. Croix. Fun!

Most Amazing, part II (am leading up to part I):
We canoed along all shores of Little Bass Lake. One place we heard this loud noise, "thud thud thud," like some big animal was coming. BUT... we saw what I believe were two martens running along shore parallel to us. Amazing! I didn't have time to get out camera... just photographed that to my brain/memory.

Most Amazing and Incredible!!:
We heard a big splash up toward the far campground on Little Bass. There was a MOOSE SWIMMING! Maybe not so amazing in and of itself... we thought it would stop somewhere. BUT NO! It swam from that point to as far as we could see down toward the portage point of Little Bass Lake. Apparently moose know waterways are the easy way to get where they want to go, to heck with all that brushy land!!! We watched for a good 15 minutes. My friend figured for the distance (remember, we had GPSes, LOL, like you didn't know that ;-P) it was going around 4 miles per hour.

My thoughts- could we start another category in the INDEX under OTHER- that would be for those of us who frequent stateparks and the BW? We could discuss trips, advise and get advice on portages, routes, campsites, etc. Just an idea-_________________LIFE IS GOOD;CABIN LIFE IS GREAT